Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community
grantor: University of Toronto The problem addressed in this thesis is the relationship between literacy and social identity in the Nunavut community of Igloolik. I used qualitative methods to work with a representative sample of the adult Inuit and non-Native population of this Northern Canadian co...
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ftunivtoronto:oai:localhost:1807/12610 2023-05-15T16:53:37+02:00 Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community Shearwood, Perry Alexander 1998 25054616 bytes application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1807/12610 http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0014/NQ41507.pdf en en_US eng http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0014/NQ41507.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1807/12610 Thesis 1998 ftunivtoronto 2020-06-17T11:11:16Z grantor: University of Toronto The problem addressed in this thesis is the relationship between literacy and social identity in the Nunavut community of Igloolik. I used qualitative methods to work with a representative sample of the adult Inuit and non-Native population of this Northern Canadian community during fieldwork in 1990, 1992, and 1993. I found that getting an education (in English), learning the finals (in Inuktitut), and reading and writing traditionally (in Inuktitut) are ways of using literacy that distinguish active biliterates, other younger Inuit, older Inuit, and non-Natives. Active biliterates are able to access resources in the local cash economy because they have got an education and learned the finals, the symbols for syllable-final consonants in written Inuktitut. Other younger Inuit face unemployment if they have not got an education and learned the finals. Older Inuit read and write traditionally but this does not help them to access resources in the cash economy. Non-Natives are employed locally because they have got an education. These differences have emerged in the context of processes in which local Inuit have been sedentarized; the orthography of their language, Inuktitut, has been standardized; and a system of credentialization by grade level has been introduced. These processes reflect in turn the dynamics of the legitimation of the Canadian state in the North and the superimposition of a cash economy onto an economy of structured sharing with kin. Future decisions in literacy planning must take into account the social identities of the residents of Nunavut. Ph.D. Thesis Igloolik inuit inuktitut Nunavut University of Toronto: Research Repository T-Space Nunavut Igloolik ENVELOPE(-81.800,-81.800,69.378,69.378) |
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University of Toronto: Research Repository T-Space |
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ftunivtoronto |
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English |
description |
grantor: University of Toronto The problem addressed in this thesis is the relationship between literacy and social identity in the Nunavut community of Igloolik. I used qualitative methods to work with a representative sample of the adult Inuit and non-Native population of this Northern Canadian community during fieldwork in 1990, 1992, and 1993. I found that getting an education (in English), learning the finals (in Inuktitut), and reading and writing traditionally (in Inuktitut) are ways of using literacy that distinguish active biliterates, other younger Inuit, older Inuit, and non-Natives. Active biliterates are able to access resources in the local cash economy because they have got an education and learned the finals, the symbols for syllable-final consonants in written Inuktitut. Other younger Inuit face unemployment if they have not got an education and learned the finals. Older Inuit read and write traditionally but this does not help them to access resources in the cash economy. Non-Natives are employed locally because they have got an education. These differences have emerged in the context of processes in which local Inuit have been sedentarized; the orthography of their language, Inuktitut, has been standardized; and a system of credentialization by grade level has been introduced. These processes reflect in turn the dynamics of the legitimation of the Canadian state in the North and the superimposition of a cash economy onto an economy of structured sharing with kin. Future decisions in literacy planning must take into account the social identities of the residents of Nunavut. Ph.D. |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Shearwood, Perry Alexander |
spellingShingle |
Shearwood, Perry Alexander Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
author_facet |
Shearwood, Perry Alexander |
author_sort |
Shearwood, Perry Alexander |
title |
Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
title_short |
Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
title_full |
Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
title_fullStr |
Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
title_full_unstemmed |
Literacy and social identity in a Nunavut community |
title_sort |
literacy and social identity in a nunavut community |
publishDate |
1998 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1807/12610 http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0014/NQ41507.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-81.800,-81.800,69.378,69.378) |
geographic |
Nunavut Igloolik |
geographic_facet |
Nunavut Igloolik |
genre |
Igloolik inuit inuktitut Nunavut |
genre_facet |
Igloolik inuit inuktitut Nunavut |
op_relation |
http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape11/PQDD_0014/NQ41507.pdf http://hdl.handle.net/1807/12610 |
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